The crowd loved him, too. I might be Lightning Lex Lambert, but the world knew Alistair Pritch as The Renegade. Pritch was clever; his disobedience was a wildcard for my game plans, but he made decisions that I had to begrudgingly call sound. He’d never make it look like he was actively rebelling against me – it was always a spur of the moment, completely reflexive maneuver.
And it had helped win more games than I was willing to admit. Pritch was always keeping me on my toes, and always forcing me to stay sharp.
Our rivalry was legendary.
And now he was trying to rip my contract out from under me before I could even sign a page.
“I’m going,” Riley muttered as she pushed past me into the hallway, fully dressed. I could only give a distracted, dumbfounded nod as she disappeared around the corner and stormed off.
What the fuck is her problem? I thought to myself absentmindedly. I just got the worst fucking news of my week…
“So, who the hell was that?” Jess asked curiously, glancing down the direction my partner for the evening had disappeared.
“That was… Riley,” I commented.
“Oh yeah? Why the sudden change? Thought you were going to lay low and, you know, avoid causing any sort of scandal while you were here…” She side-eyed me with a grin as I led her back into the hotel room. “Just couldn’t keep it in your pants, yeah?”
“It was a little different from that,” I recalled apathetically, still sucker-punched by this new tidbit of information.
Alistair Pritch, of all fucking people? Although, it made sense, in a way that made my blood boil…
“Oh yeah? Different how?”
I didn’t give any thought to the answer, which is probably why it was a particularly honest, straightforward one.
“Riley impressed me.”
“She… impressed you?” Jess seemed shocked. “This is new. Impressed you how, exactly?”
“The girl had no idea who I was, and she took charge,” I thought aloud. “Such unwavering confidence. The girl knew how to stir me up, and she kept me on my toes.”
“And you just let her scamper off like that?” Jess asked, cocking her head to the side.
“What are you getting at?”
My best friend shrugged. “I don’t know. For a minute there, it almost sounded like you respect her.”
“Maybe I do,” I answered noncommittally.
“Doesn’t sound like any Lightning Lex Lambert that I know,” Jess chuckled, pulling out a chair from under the obligatory writing desk and seating herself.
“Yeah, well. Maybe I’m trying on something new,” I answered, stepping into the bathroom to wash my hands in the sink. I raising my voice over the hot, running water. “You know. Seeing how I like it.”
“Well, pissing off your something new isn’t such a good idea!” She called out loudly from the other room.
“What do you mean, pissing her off?” I asked, wiping my hands clean with a stiff, rough hand towel as I strolled back into the main room.
“What, you didn’t see that look on her face?” Jess sharply took in a breath for emphasis. “She was livid. Doesn’t surprise me, though…”
“You’re speaking cryptically,” I simmered. “You know that I don’t like cryptic. Get on with it.”
“How does it look to you?” She asked. “She’s half-asleep, all cuddled up to you or whatever, and then some strange woman answers the door. You get up, you get into some hushed, heated conversation, all mysterious and shit, and then when she tries to make a show of storming off, you just let her? You realize that she was mad, and you didn’t even bother trying to stop her.”
I didn’t like the sound of that.
“That’s not what it was at all.”
“Context, Lex,” Jess shook her head. “She doesn’t know who you are… unless you told her.”
“Didn’t tell her a thing,”
“Right. So, she doesn’t know who you are… she doesn’t know who I am… and she’s totally in the dark as to the secrecy. Hell, it probably looked like I’m some jilted ex-wife or some shit, coming to bother you.”
I hadn’t considered that.
“Fuck me,” I grumbled.
I glanced down at my pajama pants.
“I’m… not exactly equipped for this right now,” I muttered. “You’re my publicist. Go catch her.”
“I barely saw the chick,” Jess shrugged. “Besides, I wouldn’t know where to start. I’m not exactly private eye material, you know.”
Grumbling, I pulled upon my wardrobe and whipped out a few choice garments. “Fine. I’ll handle it. If I’m lucky, she might come to me.”